Power (Get it Done)

[Buffy Ann Summers]

So. Should Buffy have accepted the power offered to her by the creators of the First Slayer? Is the extra power worth being made part demon? Cordy was/is part demon, doesn't bug her much. (current events aside).

Or perhaps being part demon would change her personality, and she'd be even more 'snappish'. 🙂

what do you think?

 

[mmmdonuts]

or MAYBE she'd have turned all demon-y and ugly and got dreds (sp?) 😛

--mmmdonuts

 

[Veruca]

Nevermind what she would've turned into, it's a matter of knowing oneself. Buffy knew that she has enough power in herself to be strong. Whether it's actually strong enough to defeat the First is another thing but she knew that she didn't need this extra more dangerous power. She only went to the other dimension to gain knowledge as to what she would have to do in order to defeat the First, she didn't need the extra dangerous side stuff. It's kind of like being a successful athlete and then being asked to take steroids. If you already have confidence in yourself, then you don't need to bow down to the more dangerous power even if it is increasing your strength somehow.

 

[SpikedBuffy]

I totally agree with Veruca!

Buffy doesn't need demon power. She knows herself and knows that she doesn't need it.

she just needs Spike's demon kisses! 🙂

 

[FiveByFiveB]

Her decision was only smart if the writers come up with some brilliant way for the Scoobies to dig their way out of this one, and if not then I think she's a fool. But this is tv, and in the words of Willow, "It's okay, Buffy. We'll get by, we always do."

And they will.

 

[The First]

Isn't all of the slayer power demonic in origin? I don't understand what makes the boost bad, but not the original power. It seems unnecessarily nit-picky to me. She gives this crazy high drama, Joan Crawford speech to the gang about going the extra mile, but then she rejects desperately needed power based on the moral ground that such an addition would be too dangerous? Gah?

 

[Allycat]

Hell yeah, the slayer's power came from this demon a couple of thousand years ago, why not get a little extra, it seemed like she might be needing it!

 

[WyrdDemonHunter]

One Ring to rule them all...

Raise your hand if you want the One Ring, Isildur's Bane for yourself! The First, as Buffy, said "it's about power" at the end of the first episode of this season. At close to the end of the last season, Evil Willow said the same. Note that it's evil people that keep saying this. A basic true-ism is: All power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Look at what happened to Willow last season.

Also, go back and look at Conversations With Dead People where Buffy talks to the vamp psych major about her inferiority complex and her superiority complex. Where does that superiority complex come from? Her power. Sometimes she feels that she's better than her friends because they don't know what it's like to be her. Because they don't live in the special place she does. What gives her that perspective? Her power.

I claim that if you gave Buffy even more power, in time her inferiority complex would disappear. She'd be consumed by the power and she'd go all evil and stuff. But she'd claim to be helping people the whole time. That's how it works. That's how it always works.

 

[Lorne The Host]

I thought Buffy rejected the power, because she understood the first slayer was forced to be a slayer, just like she was called, forced to fight the demons

Remember Buffy never wanted that...

 

[PadmeGinny]

I think that had I been in buffy's shoes, I would have taken the power. It might have made me less human, but if it would help save the one's that I love, I'd do it. She needs to learn that even though she may not have chosen this, it's what she was meant to do. It's a part of who she is, and she needs to realize that. I'm a firm believer in fate. That power was meant to be given to her. It was her destiny to have to fight the First.

Cate

 

[Tyra]

I think she would have turned into something like the First Slayer (blech), who *might* have been better equipped to fight the First Evil, but who could not play with others. Buffy would have lost not only her identity to a demon-conglomoration, but she would have lost her connections and planning and even shared experiences with her friends, allies, and the SITs.

Another possibility is that her experience in the other dimension was a test of her personal strength and self-respect, and to pass it she had to *stop* the shamans from trying to change her...

 

[nerd4hire]

I don't believe the writers believe it would be a good idea for Buffy to accept the demon power.

Over the years the Buffy philosphy as regards good vs evil has been consistent. It goes something like this;

With power comes responsibillity.

Accepting the quick fix of magic power has consequences.

It's better to be a good person than a bad person.

In the long run the good guy always wins.

Also the First Slayer tells Buffy "It's not enough".

If we know one thing about the First Slayer we know she never means what you think she means.

When she told Buffy "Death is your gift" it didn't mean what Buffy and everyone else though it meant.

The First Slayer says "It's not enough" and we all think it means Buffy's power right now is not enough. It can't mean that, because that's not the way the First Slayer operates. She's cryptic.

 

[The First]

I totally agree with Padme. Buffy goes on and on and on (and on) about destiny and being chosen. She constantly glorifies the slayer line and its powers as something sacred beyond questioning. Now, though, she pops into Africa, sees the Slayer shamans, and now totally rejects them--even attacks them? If there is one thing on this show that has been a constant, it's that the show exalts the slayer line and its powers. Now, in one episode, that's turned upside down, and Buffy just seems upset there's too many Turok Han? I would think that having the basis of her life turned upside down would be more psychologically devastating. That's why I would have preferred her to take the power--to say to the shamans: "I trust you, give me the power, no matter what happens because this is who I am and what I was meant to be."

Now she's just some girl in need of power who's part of a mystical line of weak, morally questionable sorcerrers. It's kind of disappointing.

 

[Diminished_9th]

Interesting thing about the sharmans, they chained her up. They didn't tell her this is the power she needs, they just wanted to force it upon her, without discussion. Not very good way to establish trust, now is it?

Buffy does with the sharmen exactly what she did with the watchers' council, she refused to play by someone else's rules. She has always been consistant with her reactions to those that try to use her as a tool. I guess you could say she's morally on shaky ground, but I think those that try to control her are on more shaky ground.

Wanna hear my theory?? Tough, here it is: I think the Shermans created the slayer, but over time, people found they had an extremely dangerous and uncontrollable weapon on their hands, so the formed the watchers' council. The council diluted the slayer's power, making her more human (controllable) and less demonic. The council had a tight hold on the Slayer until Buffy came along and realized she should be in charge.

 

[The First]

Yes, they did chain her up. But the slayers are chosen, including Buffy. She never asked for the power, or for the danger that comes about from having it. What's the difference between that and chaining someone up? Both are nonconsensual, and incredibly dangerous. This whole time Buffy has been doing backflips and jumpkicks with stolen demonic power, and now she wants to draw a line in the sand to remain morally superior? If she really wanted to be morally consistent, she should say, "What you did to that girl is wrong. She didn't ask for it, and I didn't either. On top of that, it's demonic. I refuse to use any of it from this point on." But she's really just going half-way, saying she doesn't want the perks, and acting all self-righteous in the process. I think her argument is muddled, and unrealistic. I think she should take the power and run.

I really should also add, though, that I thought that Buffy should have tossed Dawn into the portal at the end of "the Gift", so it's not like I'm a really good strategist.

 

[nerd4hire]

There's another possibility with the Shamans.

They could be lieing.

You often read stories about shamans and how they train their apprentices where they offer initiates a falsehood in order to bring them to a truth the apprentice is not ready to accept.

With the Carlos Castenadas books for instance the sorcerer (Don Juan) begins training Castenadas through the use of Peyote. Later in the book Don Juan tells Castenadas Peyote isn't really necessary.

Perhaps Buffy's shamans are doing something similar. Perhaps it's something like what Tyra says;

Another possibility is that her experience in the other dimension was a test of her personal strength and self-respect, and to pass it she had to *stop* the shamans from trying to change her...

 

[Buffy16Angel]

She doesn't need all that power. She could be evil in the end.